Tenant Healthcare and Health Management Associates paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to clinics to steer undocumented pregnant Hispanic women to their hospitals, then filed fraudulent Medicare claims for their care , according to an unsealed federal whistleblower complaint.
The suit was originally filed by Ralph D. Williams, former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at HEalth Management Associates. He says that in a scheme dating back to 1999, the clinics involved recruited pregnant undocumented Hispanic women to its prenatal clinics with the well publicized slogans “we care about your health, not your immigration status.”
He then says that the clinics direct this population of patients , who will be MEdicaid and MEdicare beneficiaries when they deliver their babies, to HMA and Tenet hospitals, who pay for referrals. Undocumented aliens are not eligible for regular Medicaid coverage.
The United States and the state of Georgia have intervened in the lawsuit and the plaintiffs seek hundreds of millions of dollars in actual damages.
Jeffrey Newman represents whistleblowers.
